


We Go Down, Down, Baby

by fadetomorrow



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-27 02:11:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17153345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadetomorrow/pseuds/fadetomorrow
Summary: Jongin bumps into Chanyeol at his neighbor's New Year's Eve party. Literally.





	We Go Down, Down, Baby

**Author's Note:**

> for the anon who wanted chankai awkward meet-cute! idk if this came out awkward enough, but hopefully it is cute.
> 
> i truly only know how to write only one kind of chankai ;;

Parties made Jongin uncomfortable. He wasn't great in large groups and even worse at introducing himself to people out of the blue, but his nice neighbors had invited him. That was the other thing he wasn't great at: saying no.

"You made it!"

Through the room full of people, Jongin heard Baekhyun's voice easily and two seconds later his neighbor pushed through and came running up to tackle him in a hug. Baekhyun's husband followed behind, channeling less overexcited puppy energy but still smiled and offered Jongin a hug too.

"Hi Baekhyun-hyung, Kyungsoo-hyung," Jongin said, reaching back to mess with his hair, a nervous habit. "Thanks for inviting me."

"Of course, we'd be monsters if we didn't invite our favorite neighbor," said Baekhyun, linking his arm with Jongin's. "Let me know if you want me to introduce you to anyone."

Jongin figured he'd hang out on the sidelines for a little bit, then make up some excuse to go back to his own apartment, maybe say he needed to check on his dogs and then just not return. But to Baekhyun, he smiled and nodded, ignoring the way Baekhyun waggled his eyebrows at him.

To be honest, Jongin wasn't the type to make friends with his neighbors. This was the third apartment he'd been in since graduating from university and the first time he had actually learned the names of his neighbors, much less attend their New Year's Eve party. He actually would have continued his habit of keeping to himself if his dogs hadn't decided to freak out on a walk one morning and gotten themselves tangled up with another set of poodles. The owner of those poodles was quite understanding and that was how he met Kyungsoo. They hadn't become fast friends or anything, but after that they seemed to run into each other outside a lot, their schedules lining up, and Kyungsoo was easy to talk to. Meeting Baekhyun was inevitable and he was the one who really got Jongin out of his shell, asking him about his job as an illustrator for a popular cartoon, and discovering somehow that Jongin's last relationship was over two years ago.

"You'd love Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, looking around the room, then at Kyungsoo. "I don't know where that big oaf is though. He said he was coming, didn't he?"

Kyungsoo nodded and slung his arm low and comfortable around Baekhyun's waist. Seeing the simple gesture had Jongin feeling both intrusive and jealous. In the two years of being single, he hadn't actually cared that he wasn't seeing someone, but Baekhyun and Kyungsoo fit together so well and so effortless, it was hard not to be envious and want what they had.

"You know he loves being fashionably late," Kyungsoo said, then stepped away from Baekhyun to take Jongin's elbow. "Come on, help me with the drinks."

Baekhyun was the one who could get Jongin talking, but Kyungsoo was the one who kept tabs on Jongin's nerves in unfamiliar situations.

"How was your Christmas?" Kyungsoo said once they were in the kitchen. There were a few people chatting around the dining table, but they barely spared Jongin and Kyungsoo a glance as they slipped by. "You went home, right?"

Jongin nodded. "Yeah, my parents are in LA." He went to college at UCLA, then made his way up the coast to Seattle. He's been here over five years now, but still spent every winter perpetually cold no matter how many layers he put on. "I got back a couple days ago."

"We missed Monggu and Jjanggu," Kyungsoo said, pulling out two bottles of champagne from the fridge and handing them to Jongin. He also took out a giant bottle of what Jongin assumed to be pre-mixed fruit juice. "If you're not too tired tomorrow after all of this, perhaps a playdate at the park in the afternoon?"

"That'd be really nice," Jongin said, following Kyungsoo out to the living room. He stood by obediently and watched Kyungsoo refill the punch, pouring in the champagne and juice, mixing it all slowly. After he was done, he poured a glass for Jongin to taste. "More champagne?"

Jongin took a sip and made a face, scrunching up his nose. "I can barely taste the juice."

"Perfect."

"Why don't you just serve champagne by itself?"

"Baekhyun likes to think if we mix in fruit juice, he's getting some nutrients out of it so he can drink however much he wants."

That sounded like Baekhyun logic for sure. Kyungsoo was a good husband.

"Kyungsoo-yah!"

Both Jongin and Kyungsoo looked up. The person who yelled made his way across the living room, one arm up and waving enthusiastically. Jongin didn't really see the point when he was taller than most people in the room already.

What happened next seemed to take both a split second and play out in slow motion at the same time. Jongin stepped aside to make some room and saw the electric cord connected to the decorations hung up on the wall was sticking out. He was about to tell tall guy to watch out, getting out a "hey", but it was too late. The stranger's foot got caught right in the cord, unplugging the decorations and nearly ripping them off the wall, and suddenly Jongin had six-foot of flailing limbs crashing toward him.

Jongin tried to keep his glass of champagne intact, but the guy's hand grabbed onto his arm and the contents went flying, mostly getting on Jongin's nice sweater, the rest on his face. His instinct was to close his eyes to keep the drink from getting in his eyes, but that meant he couldn't see and lost his balance and they both went tumbling to the floor.

Everything went silent. Jongin's back and head throbbed from the impact.

"Oh," came Baekhyun's voice from above, "he met Chanyeol."

"Baekhyun," Kyungsoo said with a sigh, squatting down. "You guys okay? Chanyeol, please get off our nice neighbor."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

Jongin sat up with a wince and wiped at his face which was already getting sticky. He looked at his other hand which still held the champagne flute, empty but in one piece, so at least he saved them from that. Kyungsoo took it from him and helped him up, and a second set of hands took his other arm.

"Are you okay?"

Jongin looked over and into the eyes of this Chanyeol guy who was — very worried but also very, very good looking and Jongin was covered in a spilled cocktail. Granted, it was because of Chanyeol, but he was still the one wearing it. Behind Chanyeol though was the entire room still watching them and Jongin's flight response kicked in, uncomfortable with the unwanted attention.

"I'm going to go home," Jongin said to Kyungsoo, who just nodded and walked Jongin to the door. He didn't even say goodbye, just shoved his shoes on halfway and took off, shuffling down the hall two doors to his own apartment.

Monggu and Jjanggu were in the hallway when he stepped inside, excited to see him as if he'd been gone weeks instead of just an hour. He tugged off his sweater and frowned at the huge stain on the front. It had been a gift from his grandmother and nice enough that it was dry clean only. It was his own fault for wearing it, wanting to look good, even though he should have known better and just worn a button-up from the department store clearance rack.

He gave his dogs a few pats and nudged them on their way while he headed to the bathroom. In proper lighting he could see the drink had gotten in his hair and splashed onto his jeans too. He stripped down, a shower unavoidable at this point.

He'd just changed into a clean set of flannel pajamas when someone rang the doorbell. It was probably Kyungsoo coming to check on him, which Jongin wasn't surprised given how quickly he ran out of there. But when he answered, the person on the other side was Chanyeol.

Jongin nearly shut the door in his face.

"Hi," Chanyeol said, pointing down the hall. "Baekhyun told me you lived here. I still feel awful and wanted to make sure you were okay. And to apologize again. I'm really, really sorry."

"It's okay," Jongin said, resisting the urge to hide behind the door. He couldn't remember if these were the pajamas which had a hole in the leg. "It was an accident."

His poodles came trotting over and stood in the space between them. Chanyeol's face lit up and he crouched down, holding out a hand for them to sniff.

"Hey, guys," Chanyeol said, switching to his dog voice. Jjanggu was the one who loved people and happily got closer to let Chanyeol scratch her chin and pet her behind the ears. "Oh my gosh, you're so sweet."

When Jjanggu practically started crawling into Chanyeol's lap, Jongin surprised himself and said, "Do you want to come in?"

Chanyeol picked up Jjanggu like she was his own and grinned. Jjanggu looked equally thrilled at being coddled, tongue lolling all the way out. "Yeah," he said, stepping inside. "I like your pajamas, by the way. They look comfy."

Jongin looked down. There was a hole in the knee. He closed the door. "Do you want something to drink? I guess you didn't really have anything at the party."

"I'll take whatever you've got in a sippy cup."

"Sorry?"

Chanyeol set Jjanggu on the floor and smoothed the back of his hair down. "Just — making a joke."

"Oh." Jongin went to his fridge and took out two bottles of water. He handed one to Chanyeol and said, "I have a niece and nephew so I actually have one. A sippy cup."

Chanyeol laughed. "I'm going to try and retain what's left of my dignity and drink out of a big person bottle."

Jongin smiled. He was a bit glad, he supposed, that Chanyeol caught him like this, at his most casual, so there was none of the usual worry around what he looked like, or how he was acting.

Chanyeol stuck out his hand. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Chanyeol."

"I know," said Jongin, but he shook Chanyeol's hand anyway and introduced himself too. They sat down on Jongin's couch and this time, both Jjangu and Monggu jumped up and vyed for Chanyeol's attention.

"I'll pay for your sweater to be cleaned, by the way," Chanyeol said, even in the middle of making faces at the dogs and laughing when they licked his face. "Just let me know how much it is. Or, I'll just give you some cash before I leave."

"You don't have to. It was an accident."

"Yeah, but a pretty embarrassing one," Chanyeol said, scratching under Jjanggu's chin to get her to settle down in his lap. "Actually, Baekhyun had been all excited for me to come tonight. He wanted to introduce us, but guess I jumped the gun."

"How long have you known them?"

"Baekhyun and Kyungsoo?" Chanyeol said, then launched into a whole story about being freshman roommates with Kyungsoo and annoying the hell out of him with their often polar opposite personalities, and being surprised at the end of year when Kyungsoo had asked if he wanted to be roommates again. "I was the one who introduced Kyungsoo to Baekhyun," he said, shaking his head. "Honestly, Kyungsoo really has a knack for attracting people who he claims are annoying but then he just keeps them as best friends. Or husbands."

"Kyungsoo-hyung and I are similar though."

Chanyeol smiled. "Then maybe he's just knows how to find good people."

Jongin coughed and Chanyeol had the decency to look apologetic, but barely.

"Sorry, you can tell me to get out if I'm coming on too strong."

"Maybe, maybe just a bit less," Jongin said, diverting his attention to Monggu for a bit. It had been a while since he'd had someone flirt with him. Someone he wanted to flirt with him. He saw Chanyeol nod and stand up, something across the room catching his attention.

"I love this cartoon," Chanyeol said, picking up a framed print on the bookshelf Jongin put up to display some of his artwork. "Is this like, original concept art?"

"Uh, yeah," Jongin said, walking over. "It's mine, actually. I drew it."

"Like fanart?"

"No, um. It's my job. I work on that show."

Chanyeol's eyes bugged out. "Shut up. Seriously? That's so cool!"

Jongin smiled and pulled out a binder from another shelf, handing it over. It had all his art from the show. "I joined about a year ago? I'm still a junior illustrator."

Chanyeol returned to the couch and flipped through each page slowly, looking so serious that Jongin got a little nervous. He didn't know why he even gave that to Chanyeol when he's known the guy all of two hours maximum, but no one else has responded to his work this enthusiastically before. People have thought it was neat, but in that way where grandmas think their grandchildren drawing stick figures with crayon was neat. Chanyeol, though.

"This is amazing, Jongin," said Chanyeol, looking over with a smile. "You're really talented."

Jongin mumbled a quiet thanks and pressed his lips together, fighting his usual habit of downplaying his work. Chanyeol started asking Jongin questions about his job and how the whole animation process worked, who his favorite character to draw was, and the least favorite. Then they talked about how Jongin even started doing this and all the things he'd had to do to get hired for a popular cartoon. Then that turned into what Chanyeol did for a living — an architect, which explained perhaps Chanyeol's deeper appreciation for what Jongin did — and Jongin wasn't usually the greatest at driving a conversation, but the way Chanyeol spoke made it easy to skip from one topic to another.

"Oh crap, it's almost midnight," Chanyeol said, looking at his watch. Jongin took out his phone as if the time was something Chanyeol would lie about. It was 11:55. Jongin hadn't realized they'd been talking for so long.

"If you want to head back to the party," Jongin said, taking his artbook and putting it back on the shelf. When he turned back around, Chanyeol was standing up, but didn't look like he was going anywhere.

Chanyeol looked at his watch and took a step forward, shoving his hands in his pockets. "This is going to sound weird and childish, but I'm pretty superstitious about certain things."

"Okay."

"Like kissing someone at midnight on New Year's Eve."

Jongin stared at him. "Are you. Asking me?"

"Yeah," Chanyeol said, rocking back and forth on his heels. "You don't have to say yes, I mean that. But you've got about a minute to decide."

A couple hours ago Jongin was completely regretting his choice to attend his neighbor's party and now the reason for why he regretted it was asking to kiss him. Jongin's life wasn't usually this exciting.

"Okay," said Jongin.

Chanyeol blinked. "Okay?"

Jongin nodded. "Yeah. You just spent half an hour looking at my art and boosting my ego. I'd feel bad if you spent all of next year with bad luck because you didn't have anyone to kiss. Plus, you're — easy on the eyes." He said that last part a bit quieter.

The pretty smile which spread over Chanyeol's face made him even easier to look at.

Chanyeol closed the distance between them, looking at Jongin as if Jongin was at his most attractive wearing a mismatched set of pajamas and his hair still a little damp from the shower. He looked at his watch one more time. Ten seconds.

"Happy New Year," Chanyeol said softly, his hand curled loosely against the side of Jongin's neck. His thumb stroked Jongin's jaw.

"Happy New Year," said Jongin and closed his eyes. He could hear the muted cheers from next door and outside from the bars and restaurants across the street, but it all turned to static when Chanyeol pressed their mouths together softly.

It was an innocent kiss, but sweet. Before pulling away, Chanyeol gave him a quick, second kiss, more a peck on the lips than anything else. "Sorry, that one was just because I wanted to."

Jongin found he absolutely did not mind.

The protocol around what to do after kissing someone you just met a couple hours ago was a bit fuzzy to Jongin. Chanyeol still had his hand near Jongin's face and looked like maybe he wanted to kiss Jongin a third time.

"Can I tell you one of my resolutions?"

"Uh, sure."

"It's to not be afraid of asking out cute guys even when I nearly knock them out because I'm too clumsy."

Jongin raised an eyebrow. "You're afraid even after kissing me?"

Chanyeol laughed. "You have a point," he said, shrugging. "What do you say? Can I take you out next week?"

Jongin's answer was yes and he wanted to be cool about it, but remembered it was no use. "Sure," he said with a small smile. "I don't like coffee but I do like fried chicken."

Chanyeol laughed again and nodded. "Duly noted."

Outside fireworks went off in the distance and Monggu started freaking out, barking at the window. They took that as Chanyeol's cue to leave and Jongin walked him to the door, carrying a fidgety Monggu in his arms. He gave Chanyeol his phone to get his number.

"I can't believe I'm going to have to thank Baekhyun and admit he was right," Chanyeol said, stepping into the hallway.

"About what?"

"About how much I'd like you," Chanyeol said and Jongin was tempted to hide his face behind his dog. "He's never going to stop bragging about how great a matchmaker he is."

"Kyungsoo-hyung will make sure he doesn't get too full of himself."

"True." Chanyeol glanced down the hall and back to Jongin, then leaned in quick to kiss Jongin on the cheek. "Text me when you're free?"

Jongin nodded and made a poor attempt to bite back a smile. "Good night."

"Wow, it's too cute." Chanyeol walked backwards and made a big show of clutching his heart. Jongin rolled his eyes and started to close the door. The last thing he saw through the gap was Chanyeol waving with both hands and a huge smile on his face.

Jongin collapsed onto the couch and Monggu curled up in his lap. Jjanggu took the spot Chanyeol was in. He dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling.

The new year had barely started, but Jongin had a feeling it would be a good one.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ensnarable) occasionally yelling about chankai


End file.
